1、Lesson4WisdomofBearWoodLesson Four Wisdom of Bear Wood Michael Welzenbach 1. When I was 12 years old, my family moved to England, the fourth major move in my short life. My fathers government job demanded that he go overseas every few years, so I was used to wrenching myself away from friends.2. We
2、rented an 18th-century farmhouse in Berkshire. Nearby were ancient castles and churches. Loving nature, however, I was most delighted by the endless patchwork of farms and woodland that surrounded our house. In the deep woods that verged against our back fence, a network of paths led almost everywhe
3、re, and pheasants rocketed off into the dense laurels ahead as you walked.3. I spent most of my time roaming the woods and fields alone, playing Robin Hood, daydreaming, collecting bugs and bird-watching. It was heaven for a boy but a lonely heaven. Keeping to myself was my way of not forming attach
4、ments that I would only have to abandon the next time we moved. But one day I became attached through no design of my own.4. We had been in England about six months when old farmer Crawford gave me permission to roam about his immense property. I started hiking there every weekend, up a long, slopin
5、g hill to an almost impenetrable stand of trees called Bear Wood. It was my secret fortress, almost a holy place, I thought. Slipping through a barbed-wire fence, Id leave the bright sun and the twitter and rustle of insects and animals outside and creep into another world a vaulted cathedral, with
6、tree trunks for pillars and years accumulation of long brown needles for a softly carpeted floor. My own breathing rang in my ears, and the slightest stirring of any woodland creature echoed through this private paradise.5. One spring afternoon I wandered near where I thought Id glimpsed a pond the
7、week before. I proceeded quietly, careful not to alarm a bird that might loudly warn other creatures to hide.6. Perhaps this is why the frail old lady I nearly ran into was as startled as I was. She caught her breath, instinctively touching her throat with her hand. Then, recovering quickly, she gav
8、e a welcoming smile that instantly put me at ease. A pair of powerful-looking binoculars dangled from her neck. “Hello, young man,” she said. “Are you American or Canadian?”7. American, I explained in a rush, and I lived over the hill, and I was just seeing if there was a pond, and farmer Crawford h
9、ad said it was okay, and anyhow, I was on my way home, so good-bye.8. As I started to turn, the woman smiled and asked, “Did you see the little owl from the wood over there today?” She pointed toward the edge of the wood.9. She knew about the owls? I was amazed.10. “No,” I replied, “but Ive seen the
10、m before. Never close though. They always see me first.”11. The woman laughed. “Yes, theyre wary,” she said. “But then, gamekeepers have been shooting them ever since they got here. Theyre introduced, you know, not native.”12. “Theyre not?” I asked, fascinated. Anybody who knew this sort of stuff wa
11、s definitely cool even if she was trespassing in my special place.13. “Oh, no!” she answered, laughing again. “At home I have books on birds that explain all about them. In fact,” she said suddenly, “I was about to go back for tea and jam tart. Would you care to join me?”14. I had been warned agains
12、t going off with strangers, but somehow I sensed the old woman was harmless. “Sure,” I said.15. “Im Mrs. Robertson-Glasgow,” she introduced herself, extending her fine hand.16. “Michael,” I said, taking it clumsily in my own.17. We set off. And as we walked, she told me how she and her husband had m
13、oved to Berkshire after hed retired as a college professor about ten years earlier. “He passed away last year,” she said, looking suddenly wistful. “So now Im alone, and I have all this time to walk the fields.”18. Soon I saw a small brick cottage that glowed pinkly in the westering sun. Mrs. Robert
14、son-Glasgow opened the door and invited me in. I gazed about in silent admiration at the bookshelves, glass-fronted cases containing figures of ivory and carved stone, cabinets full of fossils, trays of pinned butterflies and, best of all, a dozen or so stuffed birds including a glass-eyed eagle owl
15、.19. “Wow!” was all I could say.20. “Does your mother expect you home at a particular time?” she asked as she ran the water for tea.21. “No,” I lied. Then, glancing at the clock, I added, “Well, maybe by five.” That gave me almost an hour, not nearly enough time to ask about every single object in t
16、he room. But between mouthfuls of tea and jam tart I learned all sorts of things from Mrs. Robertson-Glasgow.22. The hour went by much too swiftly. Mrs. Robertson-Glasgow had to practically push me out the door. But she sent me home with two large tomes, one full of beautiful illustrations of birds,
17、 and one of butterflies and other insects. I promised to return them the next weekend if she didnt mind my coming by. She smiled and said shed look forward to that.23. I had made the best friend in the world.24. When I returned the books, she lent me more. Soon I began to see her almost every weeken
18、d, and my well of knowledge about natural history began to brim over. At school, I earned the nickname “Prof” and some respect from my fellow students. Even the school bully brought me a dead bird he had found, or probably shot, to identify.25. During the summer I spent blissfully long days with my
19、friend. I discovered she made the finest shortbread in the world. We would explore Bear Wood, munching happily and discussing the books she had lent me. In the afternoons we would return to the cottage, and she would talk about her husband what a fine man hed been. Once or twice she seemed about to
20、cry and left the room quickly to make more tea. But she always came back smiling.26. As time passed, I did not notice that she was growing frailer and less inclined to laugh. Familiarity sometimes makes people physically invisible, for you find yourself talking to the heart to the essence, as it wer
21、e, rather than to the face. I suspected, of course, that she was lonely; I did not know she was ill.27. Back at school, I began to grow quickly. I played soccer and made a good friend. But I still stopped by the cottage on weekends, and there was always fresh shortbread.28. One morning when I went d
22、ownstairs to the kitchen, there was a familiar-looking biscuit tin on the table. I eyed it as I went to the refrigerator.29. My mother was regarding me with a strange gentleness. “Son,” she began, painfully. And from the tone of her voice I knew everything instantly.30. She rested her hand on the bi
23、scuit tin. “Mr. Crawford brought these this morning.” She paused, and I could tell she was having difficulty. “Mrs. Robertson-Glasgow left them for you.”31. I stared out the window, tears stinging my eyes.32. “Im sorry, Michael, but she died yesterday,” she went on. “She was very old and very ill, a
24、nd it was time.”33. My mother put her arm about my shoulder. “You made her very happy, because she was lonely,” she said. “You were lucky to be such a good friend for her.”34. Wordlessly, I took the tin to my room and set it on my bed. Then, hurrying downstairs, I burst through the front door and ra
25、n to the woods.35. I wandered for a long time, until my eyes had dried and I could see clearly again. It was spring almost exactly a year since Id met the old woman in Bear Wood. I looked around me and realized how much I now knew. About birds, insects, plants and trees, thanks to her help. And then
26、 I remembered that back in my bedroom I had a tin of the best shortbread in the world, and I should go and eat it like I always did on weekends at Mrs. Robertson-Glasgows cottage.36. In time, that old round tin filled up with dried leaves, fossils and bits of colorful stone, and countless other odds
27、 and ends. I still have it.37. But I have much more, the legacy of that long-ago encounter in Bear Wood. It is a wisdom tutored by nature itself, about the seen and the unseen, about things that change and things that are changeless, and about the fact that no matter how seemingly different two soul
28、s may be, they possess the potential for that most precious, rare thing an enduring and rewarding friendship.倒吸一口冷气The cowboy drew a deep breath, as if his mind was passing into the last stages of dissolution.牛仔倒抽了一口冷气，仿佛他快魂飞魄散了。I gave a quick gasp我骤然倒吸了一口气。The other sucked in his breath and smiled.
29、 对方倒吸了一口冷气，露出了笑容.Catch ones breath (p.159)1) This is Mr. Jin, the newly elected chairman of the English Department.2) Dream of the Red Chamber, a novel by Cao Xueqin, is regarded as one of Chinas four finest classic novels.3) With too many exams to worry about, my planto write a novel about life at
30、college-doesnt seem feasible.4) College freshmenparticularly those who are the only children in their familieshave difficulty adjusting to dormitory life.5) When I was a child, my favorite adult was an old uncle, a retired sea captain who always told me about his adventures in faraway lands.6) In wh
31、atever formcigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, or chewing tobaccotobacco is bad for the health.7) The professor appeals to the values deepest in the heart of all Chineseloyalty, filial duty, benevolence and righteousness.8) The question whether he should confess or not troubled the criminal.9) Much as
32、 I respect Confucius, I can never agree with his view that women are born inferior to men.10) They are faced with a big problem: how to get the project approved by the Ministry of Education.1) Wherever there are air and water, life is possible.2) Jogging every day, he has lost five pounds this month.3) Two of them talked in a whisper so as not to disturb the other guests.4) Well let you know as soon as the personnel department reaches a decision.5) All those who work for the good of their co
